What was Left Behind
by Stripes of Scarlet
Summary: A girl comes to Ouran, expecting her life to go back to normal, or as normal as it could get. But she's in danger, just like she was back then. An old friend may have to save her one more time. I'm bad at summaries.


Shade- I do not own these characters or this series. I own Karuka, her aunt and uncle and her cousin. This is the second time I've used the name Karuka just because I like it, though; it is not a Japanese name or word. She has nothing to do with my other character named Karuka.

Since the manga started in 2003, this is set in 2003.

--

The buzz from the television was rather soothing, and Mitsukuni Haninozuka was slowly falling asleep to its noteless symphony in his ears. He held his dear stuffed rabbit Bun-Bun to his chest like he always did and slowly drifted to his side, his head falling against the arm of his cousin, Takashi Morinozuka. Takashi looked down at the small boy and smiled slightly. No one would have ever guessed that the small boy snoring lightly on his arm was in fact older than he was. The foot and a half difference in their heights made their bodies simply not fit their ages, seeing as how they were both seventeen. Slowly, Takashi started to stand up so he could put his older cousin to bed, but before he could get a grip around the boy's small body, something caught in his ear. Freezing in surprise, his eyes widened as he listened to the television continue on behind him.

"A new report has come in that the group of murderers, Meido Kito, who are most notably known for killing General Hideki Tanaka, his pregnant wife and his son in 2001, has been arrested for three counts of murder in the first degree and several others in the second degree as well as various other felonies. The group was found in the middle of a suicide pact in an abandoned warehouse in Kyoto. Police officers were on a routine check around the area and stopped at the warehouse checking on strange noises coming from inside. By the time the police made their way in, eight members had already committed suicide and twenty two were apprehended after reinforcements were called. All living members are now on death row, and the case of the Tanaka Family Murder has been reopened to find out which members killed the family.

"The Tanaka family is well known for their military excellence throughout many generations, and Masutatsu Tanaka who established one of the most well known and prosperous weapon companies in Japan—"

And that was where Takashi stopped listening. Still frozen in place at what he had heard, he slowly stood up and looked down at the sleeping Mitsukuni. Memories flashed through his head of his life before it happened, before he stopped talking so much, before everything changed. Taking a calming breath, he went back and picked up his cousin to put him to bed.

Once Takashi was done, he went in search for old memorabilia in the back of his own closet. Sitting in a crisscross position in front of his open closet, he stared at the shoebox for several seconds, thinking about whether or not to open it. He made his decision, and took the cover off and stared down into it. There was a picture on top of all the objects and he picked it up and looked at it. It was of him, Mitsukuni and two old friends of his. The picture was given to him by one of them. He flipped the picture over and saw written on the back "Taka, Mori, Honey and me". Studying the photo again, he saw that both of his old friends were completely wet, and that allowed him to remember when it was taken. Looking at the two, one on each end, he realized how much he missed them both. With all of the strange emotions rummaging inside of him, he showed no trace of it on his face. He stayed looking emotionless, as he usually did, and put the picture back in the box. Closing it, he placed it where he had retrieved it and got ready for sleep.

Two Months Later

"Welcome!"

The door to the Third Music Room in Ouran High School opened widely and a stream of rose pedals flowed out. Out in the center of the room stood seven people, all oddly dressed as if they were from the Renaissance. The girls who stood in the door giggled loudly and walked in, their yellow dresses swishing around their calves as they stepped forward.

"Tamaki-senpai, why in the world do we have to wear these clothes?"

"Haruhi, this is our theme! The Renaissance! Rebirth of art! Poetry! Architecture! But most importantly, beauty in itself!" Tamaki Suoh stood tall with his nose pointed in the air with his finger pointed up as well in front of a background of roses. Something strange shined about him, and Haruhi Fugioka just stared at him whereas various other girls who were watching giggled. She turned around, sort of slumped in position, and said under her breath, "I just don't understand why we always go so all out with our costumes." Haruhi walked away from Tamaki who, by now, was entertaining a group of girls who mindlessly followed every movement of his lips. She sat at a table that had various desserts on it and was not occupied other than Kyouya who was reading from his clipboard, surely not to disturb her. However, that quickly changed.

"Haruhi! How are you today?" The sound of two voices as one filled her ears and she glanced at both her sides and saw the twins Kaoru and Hikaru.

"Fine," was all she said before closing her eyes and putting a small strawberry cake to her lips. While she did this, the twins took seats on both sides of her.

"Have you heard, Haruhi?"

Haruhi glanced to her right as Hikaru had just talked. She moved her gaze to her left, waiting for Kaoru to finish the sentence.

"Another commoner has been accepted into school." Kaoru did just as Haruhi expected.

"Really? Why is this important to me?" She took another bite of cake.

"Well…" the twins chimed at the same time, elongating the word and rolled their eyes over to Haruhi as for her to get their hint. She glared angrily in front of her, a cup of tea at her mouth, she whispered "rich bastards". When she did this, she heard a third voice enter the conversation.

"I don't know too much about the newcomer. Except she transferred from St. Lobelia Girl's Academy. I believe she's a junior and only attended the Girl's Academy for two months." Kyouya never looked up from his clipboard as he spoke, but he still got the attention of the three others at the table.

"That's 'not knowing too much'?" Haruhi looked at Kyouya with a raised eyebrow, and once again racked her brain for answers of how he knew so much about almost everyone they met or spoke about.

"Just common knowledge you hear around. I have yet to study too deep." He set his clipboard down and picked up a cup of tea. As he did this, yet another voice entered the discussion.

"What is everyone talking about? The new student?" Tamaki had stopped in his prince like acts with his clients to join the others in their conversation. He leaned over Haruhi's chair and looked forward.

"Yes, milord." The twins spoke.

"Has anyone seen her yet?"

"No, milord." The twins spoke again.

"Well, if she is a junior, why would you two have?" Kyouya pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and picked up his clipboard again. The twins just looked at him and shrugged, turning back to Haruhi.

"Why do you all care so much about a new student? Prospect of a new client?" Haruhi was blunt in her question for their reasoning's as she always was.

"Well of course! I would love to make a new student as comfortable as possible! Here at the Host Club, we serve to make the girl's of this school happy!" As Tamaki spoke, Haruhi again stared at him slightly irritated.

"How many times do you have to say that? We don't forget, you know, Tamaki-senpai."

"Haruhi-san? Would you like to join us?" A short girl with a small voice had walked up to the side of the table, her hands cupped in front of her in nervousness, she looked at the table with a slight blush and waited for an answer.

"Yes, Keiko, I would love to." Haruhi took the opportunity to leave when she had it. She stood up, scooting her chair out and knocking Tamaki over. She turned slowly as a horde of girls came to his side, making what looked to be a large yellow flower on the floor, with Tamaki's blonde hair in the center. "Oh, gomen Tamaki-senpai." Then, she walked off.

Later

The Third Music Room was now empty of all clients of the Host Club and the members were now dressed in their normal school uniforms. Haruhi was cleaning up after some of the messes that people had made. The other members of the club were doing other random things as well. Kaoru and Hikaru were talking amongst themselves on the windowsill, Kyouya was sitting on a couch writing information onto his clipboard. And Mori was sitting next to Honey's bed as he took his afternoon nap. Tamaki was absent, however. Haruhi hadn't quite noticed when he had left, she just suddenly realized that the room was quieter than usual. The new silence, however, just made it easier for her to hear his return.

"You're going to love Ouran! It is a wonderful school! Here, let me show you inside this room."

Haruhi took notice of Tamaki's voice, the others, however, just ignored him. It appeared to them that he was trying to impress another doe eyed girl, it must be the new student. Haruhi could imagine the girl fawning over Tamaki like all of the others and following his every word, just amazed to be talked to by him. The door started to open, and Haruhi wanted to see what this girl looked like.

Even if she tried to make it seem like she didn't care about another commoner being in the school, hearing about this made her slightly happy. The thought of another student who could be in the school for their smarts, not their wealth, was a nice change. The door finally opened wide enough for the two people to walk through. Haruhi could see Tamaki smiling as he presented the room for the girl with his hand in the air and the other still on the doorknob.

"This is where the Host Club is. I started this club myself, you see what we do is—" Tamaki stopped as he saw Haruhi standing in the center of the room, looking at them. "Haruhi! Come, meet our new student!"

Haruhi stood looking at the girl. Kaoru and Hikaru looked as well, just to see what she looked like, if she was anything interesting. Kyouya looked too, when he saw the girl, he raised an eyebrow at her appearance. Mori did not turn around to look, he just sat with the back of his head toward the two new presences and watched Honey sleep.

The girl was rather tall. Haruhi glanced down quickly to see if she was wearing high heels or something but she was wearing flats. 'She must be at least five foot ten,' she thought. At that moment, she remembered that she was a junior so she was older.

Continuing to sort of size up the girl, she took quick notice of the girl's long, red summer dress that reached halfway down her calves. The first thought was that the girl didn't have enough money to buy the uniform like Haruhi herself. The dress was sleeveless, and Haruhi could see the girl's natural tan on her shoulders. Her light brown hair was rather long. Sort of straight from the root to her shoulders, the rest of it fell in loose wavy curls to the small of her back. Her brown eyes popped out in comparison to her skin and were the first things someone would take notice of on her face. Her body overall was slender though slightly muscular, not as smooth as it was toned.

"Hajimemashite, my name is Haruhi Fugioka." Haruhi gave a small bow toward the girl and she could see her smile once she came back to a stand up position. The girl had her hand to her mouth and seemed to be suppressing a laugh.

"Hajimemashite, I am Karuka Nakamura." She gave a small bow in return, and if Haruhi was turned around, she could see Kyouya's body tense up as he looked at the new girl with slightly wide eyes. She would also be able to see Mori's head turn a little, though not far enough to see the girl. He just did so to hear her voice better.

"May I ask you a question?" Haruhi nodded. "Why in the world are you wearing that uniform? You're a girl, aren't you?"

At Karuka's question, Tamaki and Haruhi went wide eyed. Kyouya and the twins just chuckled a little.

"Um, well…" Haruhi rubbed the back of her head. She didn't know if it was okay for someone outside of the Host Club to know her secret, even if she was new.

"Of course Haruhi isn't! He's a member of the Host Club! There aren't girl hosts!" Tamaki turned and wrapped an arm around Haruhi's shoulder as she was a little dumbfounded. He was getting nervous and it showed in his speech. His cheeks started to go red at the look Karuka was giving him. She clearly knew.

"Tamaki, I guess I shouldn't expect too much from you, but this is clearly a girl. A sort of boyish haircut, yes, but still a girl."

Haruhi and Tamaki raised an eyebrow to how this girl spoke to him. The way she spoke made it seem like she knew him. On the other side of the room, Kyouya chuckled lightly and stood up as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Doing this made the three look toward him.

"What's so funny Kyouya-senpai?" Tamaki turned around to face Kyouya, Haruhi still in his grip. Kyouya stood in front of the chair he was seated at previously, but he ignored Tamaki for a second and looked at Karuka. He saw surprise go over her face when they made eye contact, just as he had expected.

"Well, this is rather interesting." Kyouya stood forward, walking to the three. At the word 'interesting', the twins gave their full attention to the scene at the door. Mori looked back at Honey as he had just stirred in his sleep.

"What?" Tamaki let go of Haruhi and looked at Kyouya with slight annoyance, not knowing what was going on. Haruhi was just as clueless as Tamaki, and looked on in confusion.

"When I saw you at the door to the Karate Club I didn't expect you to introduce yourself, Tamaki. I thought it rather insulting that you didn't recognize me." Karuka spoke, making Tamaki whip around. He looked at her confused. He knew this girl?

"What are you talking about?"

"How in the world are you ranked second in our class? If you can't remember those who we've met before, how do you keep normal school information in that blonde head of yours?" Kyouya had now joined the three at the door and stood next to Karuka. Tamaki's mouth was open. He had now idea what was happening. "Karuka," Kyouya bowed, "Long time no see, yes? Your surname threw me off slightly, but now I understand."

At Kyouya's words, Karuka nodded in understanding too. Then, she bowed to greet him as well. "Kyouya, it's nice to see a familiar face who remembers me." She smiled and Tamaki's open mouth was literally touching the floor.

"What's going on! Tell me! How do I know you?" Tamaki looked down into her eyes, several inches away from her face, studying her. Several seconds went by before he finally realized. His face went from studying her to surprise and happiness.

"Karuka! It's really you! You look so different! You've grown A LOT since middle school. Jeez, you used to be so short! I can't believe I didn't know! You're so kawaii! Look at your hair! I still can't believe it's you!"

Tamaki started to rant a mile a minute about Karuka, jumping up and down around her like a crazed school girl who put too much sugar in her tea. Karuka and Haruhi just stood there dumbfounded at his antics. Kyouya sighed and turned around to walk back to his seat.

"Wait a minute." Tamaki suddenly stopped, prompting the two spacing out girls to take notice.

"What?"

"Why did you say your name was Karuka _Nakamura_? That's not your name!"

"How about I explain, Karuka? You can have some cake if you wish." Kyouya had sat back down and motioned for Tamaki to sit next to him. Tamaki looked back and forth between Kyouya and Karuka and obeyed.

"What's going on Kyouya?"

As Tamaki walked over to Kyouya, Haruhi followed him with her eyes till he sat down. He leaned in at Kyouya's request and listened as he started to whisper. Since she couldn't hear them, she turned back and looked at Karuka, she hadn't the slightest idea was going on and it clearly showed in her expression.

"Sorry if this is sort of strange. It'll all be sorted out in no time I suppose. Also, I'm sure there's a very good reason you're acting as a boy. Whatever it may be, I won't reveal anything."

Haruhi just stared at her for a couple seconds and nodded, saying, "Um, thank you. May I ask you a question?"

"Why of course."

"How do you know Tamaki-senpai and Kyouya-senpai?"

Karuka chuckled lightly and started to walk over to the table where Kyouya had just explained Karuka's situation, one he figured out by himself.

"I grew up here. We went to school together." She smiled and turned back continuing to walk.

"Oh." Haruhi now understood a little more, but she still didn't know anything about Nakamura not being her real name. She turned around and decided to join them to see if she could learn more but something caught her eye. Mori was turned in his chair and staring at Karuka who had yet to notice him. There seemed to be surprise in his eyes as he followed her movements.

"Mori-senpai? Are you okay?" Haruhi stopped and looked at him but he didn't turn his gaze away. She noticed he was gripping the arm of the chair rather tightly.

"Mori?" Karuka turned slowly to the part of the room she hadn't really noticed. Her eyes met Mori's, and she froze.

--

Shade- Weird place to end it. My first Ouran fic. I just recently got into it. The chapter didn't go exactly as I wanted but it made more sense than what I _was_ thinking. Anyways, please review if you like it, hate it.


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